Airline oiler



April 5, 1966 D. F. GERMAN ETAL 3,244,257

AIRLINE OILER Filed Jan. 13, 1964 United States Patent 3,244,257 AIRLINE OILER Bryan, and Wilbert G. Kautz, West Bryan,

This invention rel-ates to an airline oiler of comparatively simple and inexpensive construction.

One object of the invention is to provide an airline oiler which has a novel Venturi action for injecting oil into the air stream and at the same time atomizing it so that the oiler is charged with oil fog or mist which enters the air stream flowing through the oiler and thereupon flows to a pneumatic tool receiving compressed air through the oiler. Simultaneous operation and lubrication of the tool is thereby effected.

Another object is to provide a novel means for effecting the dripping of oil from a nozzle into an oil pocket that feeds the Venturi mechanism so that the drops of oil through a sight gauge can be counted in a unit of time, and the speed of operation of the oiler thereby determined.

A further object is to provide a regulating valve for the sight gauge so that the rate of oil fogging can be regulated to suit various sizes of tools or other lubrication requirements of pneumatic tools or the like.

Still a further object is to provide an arrangement of Venturi mechanism and compensating valve which cooperate with each other in such manner as to provide substantially the same rate of oil fogging regardless of variations in the air flow through the oiler.

With these and other objects in view, our invention -consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our airline oiler, whereby the objects above contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth,upointed out in our claim and illustrated in detail on the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is" a plan view of an airline oiler embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view thereof on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 44 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is an enlargement of the portion of FIG. 3 shown in the dot-and-dash line circle thereof and illus trates a Venturi nozzle and throat.

On the accompanying drawing we have used the reference character H to indicate an oiler head, B an oil bowl and P a fill plug for the oil bowl. The bowl B is suspended from the head H by means of a suitable connecting band (of 'bayonnet joint type or the like) and has an 'air inlet 12 and an air outlet 14. An air passageway 16 connects the outlet 14 with the inlet 12.

In the passageway 16 a compensating valve 18 is provided in the form of a butterfly plate as will hereinafter appear and this compensating valve forms a variable obstruction means for air flow for a purpose which will hereinafter also appear. The plate 18 as shown in FIG. 3 extends transversely of the passageway 16 and is bent to the right at its upper end to terminate in a horizontal tail piece 22 (see also FIG. 4) which is slotted to surround a Venturi plug 26. A coil spring 24 surrounds the Venturi plug and is interposed between a shoulder adjacent the lower end thereof and the tail piece 22, thereby biasing the compensating valve 18 to the closed position shown in FIG. 3 whereas it is obvious that air flowing from the inlet 12 and impinging the plate 18 will swing the plate clockwise about its pivoted upper end in proportion 3,244,257 Patented Apr. 5, 1966 to the air flow and the force exerted by the spring 24. Pivoting is accomplished by merely rocking the upper end of the plate 18 against the upper surface of the passageway 16, a pin 20 being provided through a perforation of the compensating valve to retain it in operative position.

An oil tube 28 is provided depending from the head H and having its lower end submerged below the level of oil 64 in the bowl B. Its upper end communicates by means of passageways 34 and 36 with a drip nozzle 38 formed in a sight gauge 32 which may be of transparent plastic material so as to permit observance of dripping oil such as the oil drop 66 in FIG. 2. A check ball 30 is located in the passageway 34 and opens toward the drip nozzle 38.

Below the drip nozzle 38 the head H is provided with an oil pocket 44 to receive the drops of oil 66 and to convey them to the Venturi nozzle 26. FIG. 2 shows the oil pocket 44 below the drop 66 and FIG. 3 shows the oil pocket communicating with the nozzle 26.

As shown in FIG. 3 the air outlet 14 communicates through a passageway 45 with the oil bowl B above the level of the oil therein so as to receive fogged oil there from. In order to effect flow of oil upwardly through the oil tube 28, and the passageways 34 and 36 to the drip nozzle 38, the interior of the sight gauge 32 requires a drop in pressure. This is effected by the Venturi action in a Venturi throat 52 which is in the form of a hole 52 through the upper wall of an insert 50 between the head H and the bowl B. The insert is supported by a plate 53 and a supporting strap 54 resting on a baffle 56 which in turn rests on the upper end of the bowl B. The relationship of the Venturi nozzle on the Venturi plug 26 and the Venturi throat 52 is shown in FIG. 5, the air flowbeing indicated by arrows a which produce a suction as indicated by the arrow b because'of the increase in velocity of the air as it passes through the Venturi .throat 52.

The Venturi action would produce more drops of oil per minute than required and it is desirable to have a "means to regulate the number of drops. This is effected by a sight gauge control valve 40 in the form of a needle valve in a passageway 46, 48 leading from the space in the bowl B below the head H to the oil pocket 44. This passageway acts as a bleed to reduce the effectiveness of the Venturi action. The head 42 of the control valve 40 may be engaged by a screwdriver and the valve adjusted as required.

There is a statistical relationship between droplet sizes in the oil fog, some being small enough that they can be airborne while others precipitate back into the oil bowl. This relationship in actual practice is approximately one in twenty. Therefore with a given constant air consumption of a pneumatic tool (in c.f.m.), by observing the number of drops 66 falling through the sight gauge 32 in one minute, and dividing by twenty, the result is the number of drops per minute actually delivered from the air outlet 14 in the form of fog. Thus if a pneumatic tool requires 30 c.-f.m. for its operation and 1 /2 drops of oil per minute for its lubrication, the valve 40 may be adjusted until 1 /2 drops per minute is consumed, which in the sight gauge 32 amounts to 30 drops per minute.

The fill plug P has a threaded portion 58 threaded into the head H, a neck 60 and a knurled knob 62 for manipulating the plug. A suitable drain valve 68 may be provided at the bottom of the bowl B. Throughout the device suitable gaskets and O-rings are provided for sealing purposes as illustrated in the drawing, and since the operation thereof is conventional they have not been described in detail.

The Venturi action illustrated in FIG. 5, of course, breaks the oil coming from the nozzle 26 into fine particles thereby filling the bowl B with fogged oil above the level of the oil therein. The air indicated by the arrows at and the air passing through the air passageway 16 both flow out of the outlet 14 during the operation of the pneumatic tool. The air that flows through the Venturi throat 52 into the bowl takes along with it some of the fogged oil as it fiows upwardly through the passageway 45 into the outlet 14. The heaviest particles of oil fall out of the air in the bowl and return to the oil 64 therein, and this entire cycle of operation provides the 20:1 ratio mentioned as indicated above.

Since the air entering the head H is obstructed by the compensating valve 18, the valve thereby effects How of air as indicated by the arrows a in FIG, to produce the Jenturi action. The function of this valve is to automatically control the amount of air passing by the end of the Venturi plug. Pressure reduction due to a Venturi changes with the square of the air velocity. Therefore, it the air flow of an ordinary oiler increases a flooding condition of the oil results, and likewise starvation of oil will result when the air flow decreases. This condition of flooding and starvation of oil is compensated for in our oiler by use of the compensating valve 18 which opens wider whenever the air How is increased and thereby decreases the Venturi action. The parts are so desgined and the tension of the spring 24 is such that the proper balance is attained to supply the correct amount of oil fog for the tool being operated regardless of whether it is operated at high speed by increasing the air flow or low speed by decreasing it. We have found the disclosed arrangement very eflective to provide the desired uniformity of oiling action for a pneumatic tool fed with compressed air from our oiler.

From the foregoing specification it will be obvious that we have provided a comparatively simple oiler construction having means to produce oil fog and to regulate the degree of oil fog by means of a sight gauge in which the oil drops may be observed. Automatic compensation for air flow variation is had and the device is readily adjustable to secure the desired degree of lubricating action for a pneumatic tool or the like.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our airline oiler without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claim any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may reasonably be included within its scope.

We claim as our invention:

An air line oiler comprising a head, an oil bowl depending therefrom, said head having an air inlet and an air outlet, an air passageway from said inlet to said outlet, said outlet communicating with said oil bowl to receive air and oil fog therefrom, and means to produce such oil fog comprising a sight gauge on said head, a drip nozzle therein, oil passageway means from said oil bowl below the level of oil therein to said drip nozzle, an oil pocket for receiving oil from said drip nozzle, Venturi means to efiect operation of said drip nozzle comprising a Venturi nozzle communicating with said oil pocket and a Venturi throat communicating with said inlet, and a movable compensating valve in said air passageway and operable to variably obstruct the flow of air therethrough, said compensating valve opening wider with increased air flow whereby a portion of the air flows through said Venturi throat in proportion to air flow through said air passageway, said compensating valve comprising a valve plate transversely across said air passageway and pivotally mounted adjacent one side thereof, and a coil spring to bias said valve plate to closed position, said coil spring surrounding said Venturi nozzle and said valve plate having a tail piece provided with a slot through which said Venturi nozzle extends and engages one end of said coil spring, said Venturi nozzle having a shoulder engaged by the other end of said coil spring.

References (Ii'ted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,393,204 10/1921 Daggett 137-527 X 1,907,045 5/1933 Curtis. 2,442,777 6/1948 Norgren 1s4 2,604,189 7/1952 (DFa-rrell. 2,718,934 9/1955 Norgren et al 184-55 3,023,849 3/1962 Tine 18455 LAVERNE D. 'GEIGER, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN AIR LINE OILER COMPRISING A HEAD, AN OIL BOWL DEPENDING THEREFROM, SAID HEAD HAVING AN AIR INLET AND AN AIR OUTLET, AN AIR PASSAGEWAY FROM SAID INLET TO SAID OUTLET, SAID OUTLET COMMUNICATING WITH SAID OIL BOWL TO RECEIVE AIR AND OIL FOG THEREFROM, AND MEANS TO PRODUCE SUCH OIL FOG COMPRISING A SIGHT GAUGE ON SAID HEAD, A DRIP NOZZLE THEREIN, OIL PASSAGEWAY MEANS FROM SAID OIL BOWL BELOW THE LEVEL OF OIL THEREIN TO SAID DRIP NOZZLE, AN OIL POCKET FOR RECEIVING OIL FROM SAID DRIP NOZZLE, VENTURI MEANS TO EFFECT OPERATION OF SAID DRIP NOZZLE COMPRISING A VENTURI NOZZLE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID OIL POCKET AND A VENTRUI THROAT COMMUNICATING WITH SAID INLET, AND A MOVABLE COMPENSATING VALVE IN SAID AIR PASSAGEWAY AND OPERABLE TO VARIABLY OBSTRUCT THE FLOW OF AIR THERETHROUGH SAID COMPENSATING VALVE OPENING WIDER WITH INCREASED 